Four Weddings
by ExceedinglyPeculiarChick
Summary: Or, three ways Percy and Annabeth could've gotten married and the one way they actually did.
1. Chapter 1

_[one]_

"Ladies and gentlemen and gods of Olympus, allow me to introduce the new Mr. and Mrs. Percy Jackson! Flame on!"

"Sit down, Leo!" half the room shouted, and Percy laughed as he led his new wife (he loved thinking that word) out onto the dance floor. He only knew how to dance a little bit, and Annabeth couldn't do it at all (he knew this, sadly, from experience), but he had this feeling that Aphrodite won't let them screw up—not on this night, and especially not when she was sitting at a table in the corner with the other Olympians. Wouldn't do to have the groom tripping all over his own feet in the presence of the love goddess.

The crowd of faces slowly blurred into the backdrop as the music started playing. He felt Annabeth's arms tighten around him in surprise as they began to dance, and she asked, "Where did you learn how to dance so well? Did I miss the memo that said you were suddenly graceful, Seaweed Brain?"

He smirked. "Years of swordfighting, and…well, my mom. I'm serious—give her five feet of space and a good Frank Sinatra song and she's gone." He pauses briefly, then adds, "I don't think Paul ever had more fun in his life than that day."

Annabeth laughed. "Your family is so funny."

Percy lifted one hand and traced the gray streak in Annabeth's hair, deep in thought. "It's your family too now, Wise Girl."

Over Annabeth's shoulder, he caught glimpses of faces in the crowd: Thalia, who had showed up with the full complement of Hunters and a horde of animals (to their credit, none of the guests panicked when several of the giant white wolves nearly tore down the buffet table and Ares had to chase them out with a chair); Piper, Jason, Leo, Reyna, and Rachel—all of them beaming at him; Nico and Frank and Hazel, standing together in a quiet corner; even Athena and Poseidon, though they stood on opposite sides of the room and pointedly avoided each other. He laughed quietly. _Some things never change._

"What's funny?" Annabeth asked, her lips distractingly close to his (again).

Percy grinned at her. "Our parents. You know—"

"—no, actually, I don't know—"

"—I was getting there! I was just remembering something Hermes told me a long time ago—that all families are messy, but immortal families are eternally messy."

"Well, isn't that the truth," she said, smiling at him.

She laid her head on Percy's chest and they danced that way for a while, not saying anything, each content just to be in the arms of the other. The song (which had taken several daughters of Aphrodite four hours, two and a half boxes of hot chocolate mix, and a broken iPod to pick out) reminded Percy of the music they had danced together to on Mount Olympus—only this time, it was definitely more hopeful than sad.

More and more couples started drifting out to join them: first Piper and Jason, who whirled around like Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers (and, quite frankly, put Percy's dancing "skills" to shame); his mother and Paul; Frank and Hazel—and he felt like he was going to burst with happiness. _Just to see everyone at peace—this is worth fighting for._

And so, he thought, was the woman in his arms. How he had managed to get to this day and call such an incredible person _his own_ simply blew his mind.

"What are you thinking about, Percy?"

Percy snapped back to see Annabeth looking at him almost amusedly. "You."

She rolled her eyes and lightly flicked him with her fingers. "Of course that's what you say."

"No, really!"

She still had the amused smirk on her face.

"Still not making things easy for me, huh, Wise Girl?"

"I keep my promises," Annabeth muttered, leaning in and kissing him.

As the music slowed, then finally ended, she leaned over to Percy. "Guess what, Seaweed Brain?"

"What?" he asked over the roar of applause coming from their assembled friends and family.

"I've finally built something permanent."

For the rest of the night, Percy couldn't stop smiling. 


	2. Chapter 2

_[two]_

"This is absolutely crazy," I heard Thalia say from behind me. "How are you doing this, Kelp Face?"

I cast a quick glance up at the enormous bubble of air between us and the crushing pressure of the ocean outside. It took almost no effort to maintain—like another muscle, obedient to my will. "I'm a special boy."

"And remind me _why_, exactly, does having an underwater wedding sound so appealing to you?"

I rolled my eyes. "Pinecone Face, I didn't think you were so dumb before, but now? Really?"

Thalia gave me a playful shove. "Don't call me Pinceone Face."

"Don't question my wish for an underwater wedding, then!" I retorted, shoving her back.

"Point taken." Thalia adjusted her bow on her shoulder and fiddled with the buttons on her silver jacket, looking around nervously. "Is…will your dad be okay with me there?"

"You're with me, Thals," I pointed out quietly. "Besides, he's a bit more…_easygoing_ than your dad or Hades."

My cousin muttered something under her breath about me having all the luck as we entered Poseidon's palace.

It had been so long since I had last been here—since Beckendorf and I had blown up the _Princess Andromeda_, actually—that I had nearly forgotten how amazing the court of my father really was. Judging from Thalia's dumbfounded expression as she walked along beside me, she was impressed, too.

We turned and went down a hallway, past a door with a sign on it that said something like _GMEA OMRO_—

"Your dad has a game room down here?" Thalia hissed, staring wide-eyed at the door.

"Took him something like three hundred years," I said proudly, "but yeah, he does. And how did you read the sign? I thought—"

"Yeah, I'm dyslexic too," she said with a dismissive wave of her hand, "but going cross-country with the Hunters and having to read store signs all the time makes it easier to work around it."

"Lucky," I muttered.

We stopped in front of a set of double doors paneled with abalone and bordered by coral.

"The throne room?" Thalia asked, and I nodded.

"I'm about to go ask my dad if I can marry the daughter of his greatest rival in his kingdom, but no pressure," I said. "Let's go."

*—*—*

"You want us to get married underwater?"

We were standing in the kitchen of my apartment, alone for the moment while my mom and Paul had gone grocery shopping (though I had seen Paul give me a sly wink as he followed my mom out the door). After trying and failing to decide on a movie to watch tonight, we had given up and gone to make blue cookies instead.

"Well," I said, "I, um, I thought it would be cool. You know, like wedding of the century and all that."

Annabeth rolled her eyes and slid on the oven mitts. "We aren't exactly the royal family, you know."

"Well, technically, we're related to one, aren't we?"

She grinned and bumped me with her hip. "Technically. But how are we going to pull that off? I mean—"

"Two words, Wise Girl. My dad." I sat on the counter, ready to attack the cookies the minutes they were out.

Annabeth must have foreseen my next move, because she swept the cookies off the baking sheet and into a plastic container before I could even swipe one. "We're saving those for when Jason and Piper come from California next week, so don't get any ideas."

"All right, fine!" I pretended to pout for her benefit.

She laughed at my expression and put her hands on my knees. "You're cute when you're sad. And you're going to be even cuter in a second."

I raised an eyebrow. "Oh? And why is that?"

"Because we're watching that Da Vinci video, whether you like it or not." She ducked past me and headed for the living room.

"Annabeth!" I protested, jumping down and running after her.

And I thought throughout the entire three-hour-long special that this girl deserved the most special wedding that I could give.

Even if I did have to put up with Amphitrite and Triton the whole time.

**A/N: Just realized that I didn't put any author's note in the last chapter, so I'm doing one now. :) I'll have chapter three up tomorrow or Thursday morning at the latest, and chapter four you'll get Thursday night because my friends will be over and I always seem to do my best work in the middle of an insane fangirl session. Weird, huh? :D**

If you liked this, please review!

EPC 


	3. Chapter 3

_[three]_

"Percy! Percy, wake up!"

I was so startled by the sudden loud voice that before I knew what I was doing, there was a huge _WHOOSH_ sound and a strangled yell. My eyes snapped open to see a soaking wet Nico di Angelo standing over my bunk in the Poseidon cabin.

"Oh, um…sorry, Nico."

"That's—okay—Percy," he panted, bending over to try to catch his breath.

"What's wrong?" I asked. "It's eleven o'clock at night, man. You don't just wake me up at eleven without a very good reason—"

"Annabeth," he choked out. "She went out today for Chiron—I can hear that buzzing sound—we've got to go—"

At the words _buzzing sound_, I was wide awake. I knew that Nico could hear and feel people dying. And—

Annabeth.

My _girlfriend_.

"Oh, gods," I said. "What are we waiting for?" And I tore out of my cabin with Nico hard on my heels.

Camp Half-Blood was bathed in silvery light from the full moon that floated above us. Cabin lights flicked on as Nico and I dashed past, shouting at each other about what to do ("I don't care if Chiron has curlers in his tail! Go wake him up!"). I finally reached the crest of Half-Blood Hill, skirted the sleeping guard dragon Peleus—and there she was.

"No, no, no," I muttered to myself as I ran down the hill. "She's not dead, she can't be dead—"

One ankle was twisted at a funny angle, her breathing was shallow, and there was blood everywhere, but I didn't have time to worry about proper medical protocol. I scooped her up and climbed back up the hill, then headed for the Big House as fast as I could.

Chiron and Nico were out on the porch, both of them gesturing wildly with their hands as they talked. The moment I was within shouting distance, I yelled, "Hey, Nico! Go wake up Will!"

"Will as in Will Solace from the Apollo cabin?" he called back.

I tried not to jostle Annabeth as I climbed up the porch stairs. "Does she look like she can be fixed without a medic?"

He opened and closed his mouth a few times, apparently fishing for somethting to say, before turning and flying back towards the cabins.

Chiron gave a strangled gasp when he saw Annabeth. "Is she still breathing?"

"What a morbid question," I said, following him into the house. I had not-so-fond memories of the sick room, but not being the injured one this time _was_ kind of a novelty.

Will showed up, still in his pajamas and his hair a complete mess. I stepped back to let him do his thing while I tried (and failed) to get the bloodstains off my shirt.

"This isn't so bad, Percy," he muttered, still bending over Annabeth. "She twisted the ankle, and some of the cuts are deep, but she'll be fine."

I let out a shaky breath I hadn't known I'd been holding. "Good."

"Hold on just a minute—" As Will moved to set the ankle, Annabeth gasped and her eyelids fluttered open. Before I even knew what I was doing, I had moved over to her and gotten a firm grip on her hand, blocking her view of the rest of her body.

"Percy?" Her voice was barely above a whisper.

"Hey, Wise Girl. This must be kind of new for you, huh?"

"I'm not even going to dignify that with a response."

Her fingers tightened on mine for a moment and she hissed through her teeth. "Will, what exactly happened to me that hurts so much?"

"Well, what attacked you?" Will straightened up and wiped his fingers on his sweatpants.

"Pit scorpions, couple of hellhounds, _dracaenae_, and a freaking hydra."

I cringed, because I remembered exactly how pit scorpion venom felt, and it wasn't nice. "Man, all at once?"

"No, thank the gods." She sighed. "Who found me?"

"Nico did."

Annabeth reached up to trace one of the dark red stains on my shirt. "Then what—"

"I carried you back here while he went to get Will."

"Speaking of me," Will said, "I'll just—ah—leave you two alone." He winked at me, then left the room and closed the door behind him.

"Do they all have to flaunt it in our faces?" I grumbled. "We're _dating_. We understand that."

Annabeth laughed. "We've been through a lot together, haven't we?"

"Yeah. Like saving the world." I paused for emphasis, then added, "_Twice_. And there are so many words I could describe us with. Have you ever noticed that whenever people talk about us, it's always 'PercyandAnnabeth'? Like, one word?"

She raised one eyebrow, puzzled. "Come to think of it, yeah."

"There are more, though—lightning thieves and labyrinths. Crashed school dances and the weight of the sky. Gray streaks. Stars."

Annabeth looked at the ceiling for a while. "Poison knives and Olympus. The _Argo II_. Giant wars."

"There's one more, though," I said softly. "One more word that I want to use to describe us."

"What's that?"

"Forever." The word tumbled out in a rush. "Annabeth, this is totally crazy and I don't even have a ring and I'm scared of what your mom will do, but—will you marry me?"

She grinned at me and gripped my hand tighter. "Yes, Seaweed Brain. Of course I'll marry you."

_[one month later]_

Most of the Aphrodite girls had already left the room sobbing—except for Piper, who stood with the other bridesmaids on my right side and shot me a sympathetic look. Grover stood behind me, chewing absently on the rose pinned to his tuxedo.

A fanfare trilled through the music. Everyone stood as they turned to watch the two people at the end of the aisle.

And my bride was scarred and bandaged, but it was the best day of my life.

*—*—*

**A/N: This chapter is dedicated to DandelionsAndDaydreams—thank you for the wonderful review! :)**

EPC 


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